Obsession
by SPT
Summary: Is someone out to get Mitchell, or is it something else entirely? Please read and review.
1. Chapter 1

**Title: Obsession**

**Rating: M for language and violence**

**Disclaimer: I don't own or have any rights to Stargate: SG-1 or its characters**

**Summary: Is someone out to get Mitchell, or is it something else entirely? **

Cameron slowed to a sneak as he neared the doorway, flattening himself against the wall as much as possible. He would never be anything but a ball of energy, but his time with the Sodan had augmented his ability to move silently when the situation called for it. Cam slowly and silently poked his head around the doorway as though expecting gun-fire to start at any moment. He spied the object of his hunt, head down and completely oblivious to his presence.

"HEY!!"

He couldn't have asked for a better response. His quarry reacted with her entire body sending papers, pens, and her chair flying. He did his best to contain his snicker, knowing that it would only get him in deeper trouble.

Carolyn glared at him from the midst a cloud of papers floating back down to her once-organized desk. She turned and righted her chair before even considering speaking to him. "That was not nice."

"Maybe not, but it was funny as all hell; just think of it as pay back for all the times you've poked me with a needle." Cam strolled over and plopped into one of the chairs in front of her desk, "so, the team's headed out to shoot some pool later tonight, you up for joining us?'

Although Cameron had made the effort to be her friend first, the entire team had quickly followed suit and began to include her in their gatherings. She had almost become as integrated within the team as Janet had once been; not a replacement, just a new friend.

Carolyn cocked her head, thinking the proposition over for a second; she never failed to have a good time when she hung out with SG-1, they were all extremely entertaining in their own way, and it gave her and Cameron something to talk about later. "That depends, you looking to get your ass kicked again?"

She knew that it irked Cameron to no end that, although he was a fairly good pool player, everyone on the team, including Teal'c, was able to beat him soundly in the game. Thankfully he was a gracious loser and each failure only made him more determined to win someday.

Mitchell shook his head, "nope, figured you and I could team up this time, maybe together we can actually beat Sam and Daniel. I'll swing by and grab you at around 0800?"

"Sounds good; oh, and stay out of trouble on this mission, will you, dad's blood pressure is already a little too high after that whole Gamma Site fiasco."

Cam wisely kept his mouth shut as he strolled out of the infirmary; no way was he going to jinx this supposedly easy mission before it even started.

Three hours later he realized that it wouldn't have mattered what he'd said to Carolyn; this mission was jinxed simply for the fact that they were SG-1. Maybe one day he'd get everyone to stop calling them easy, at least when it came to their missions; because it seemed like the second anyone said something to that effect, they were doomed to be shot at, stormed on, or forced to sit through insanely long negotiations.

He deftly hurdled another downed log as they sprinted through the woods toward the stargate.

"Jackson, what the hell did you say to them?" Cameron breathed heavily as he covered Carter while she dialed the SGC.

Daniel dropped to one knee next to him, "this is not my fault! There was nothing to indicate that this planet had ever dealt with Merlin, let alone that they'd run him off centuries ago." His breath was harsh as he panted in the grass next to Mitchell; he'd been a little further into the village than the rest of the team when he'd made his faux pas. The others hadn't bothered to ask questions as Jackson high-tailed it past them toward the Stargate; even Mitchell had been on the team long enough to know what to do in that situation.

Cameron, Daniel, and Teal'c laid down covering fire as Sam punched in the IDC; they kept their aim low, mostly kicking up dirt a the locals' feet. There was no reason for people to die just because of a small misunderstanding.

"We're good to go," Sam hollered over her shoulder as she climbed the platform and turned to cover the guys.

On the other side of the wormhole, General Hank Landry watched with jaw clenched as SG-1 came flying through the puddle followed by several spears and arrows. He allowed a _small_ sigh of relief when the entire team got up to dust themselves off; one more crisis averted, at least for now. He grabbed for the microphone, "debrief, now!"

Daniel winced when the rest of the team turned their glares on him; technically it was Teal'c's turn to take the rap for a mission gone wrong, but since this one had kinda been his fault he knew it would fall to him to explain things to the General.

"You're up Jackson," Mitchell gave him that smart-ass grin, "good luck."

**STARGATE: SG-1**

Cam shut the door to his quarters and leaned back against it, running a hand over his face; that had not gone well. Apparently the General's blood pressure wasn't the only thing that was up; his temper had flared to new heights when he'd lit into Jackson for being careless. Mitchell hadn't exactly helped things when he'd stood up for Daniel, of course the glares Sam and Teal'c were shooting at Landry hadn't done anything to calm the situation either.

In the end, they'd been banished from the Mountain for two days.

Cameron shook his head trying to rid himself of the last twenty minutes. He moved over to the dresser and grabbed a spare set of civilian clothes he kept on base, not like he had time to run home now. He only had ten minutes before he was supposed to be in the infirmary to pick up Carolyn, so he changed quickly and pulled the door open.

Or he tried too.

Mitchell's brow furrowed in confusion, usually the door opened when he pulled on it like that. He double checked that he hadn't dead-bolted the door when he'd come in, and tried again with the same results.

There was nothing else for it, his door was locked; as in, there was a glitch in the security system and he was stuck until someone figured it out. Hopefully they'd come to his rescue soon, otherwise Carolyn was going to kill him for being late.

He tried banging on his door and yelling several times, but at the same time he knew it was basically pointless. SG-1's private quarters were down their own dead-end hall, far away from everyone else, lest the top team be disturbed. However, that also meant that no one but SG-1 came down that hallway and his entire team was already on the surface waiting for him and Lam.

A hundred yards away and two levels down, Carolyn paced the infirmary; however, her thoughts were not of malicious intent as Cameron suspected. It wasn't unusual for Cam or one of the other members of SG-1 to be late picking her up, with their job something always came up, but it was unusual for Cameron not to have sent someone to tell her the situation. He believed in respect and common courtesy above all else, most likely a result of being raised by strong women.

Carolyn paced for a few more minutes before she decided that Cameron forgot he was supposed to pick her up, and was waiting on the surface with Sam, Daniel, and Teal'c. She cursed him soundly the entire twenty-six level ride in the elevator, but she made sure she had plenty of rant left to lay into him the second she saw him.

Sam turned as the elevator dinged, "about time you guys showed up, we were just about to head over to O'Malley's without you." She stopped when the elevator closed, leaving only Carolyn standing before them, "where's Cam?"

That's when Carolyn began to worry, "I thought he was up here with you guys since he was so late coming to get me." When the team shook their heads she knew something was wrong; granted he was on base so nothing too bad could have happened to him, but this was the SGC after all.

Apparently Daniel didn't share her concerns, "well, he was pretty tired, maybe he just passed out in his quarters."

They all shared a look, realizing that was as good of an explanation as any other, and trooped over to the elevator for the long ride down.

Carter noted the 'locked' insignia on the electronic swipe pad next to his door before knocking loudly and calling his name.

"Sam, just the woman I was looking for; I need you to try to get in here, the door's locked."

"Col Mitchell I believe the purpose of a lock is to prevent people from entering." Teal'c cracked what could almost be considered a grin.

On the other side of the door, Cameron couldn't help but smile even as he continued to bang his head on the door, "yeah, T, it is. But the problem is that I can't get the door unlocked."

Daniel snickered, "usually helps if you turn the deadbolt Mitchell." No one missed the amused and condescending tones in his voice.

Cam's growl could be heard clearly, even through the heavy metal door. The dull thudding stopped briefly, "Jackson, just a heads up, this stopped being funny for me about half an hour ago. The problem is with the electronic lock. And someone please go let Carolyn know what's up, she's probably ready to kill me right now." The thudding resumed.

"I'm already here, Cameron."

"Oh… hi."

Carter straightened up from inspecting the electronic pad beside his door. She gave the team a hesitant glance before softening her voice to deliver the bad news; "Cam, you'd better get comfortable. I don't know how it happened, but this key pad is completely trashed; it's going to take us awhile to get you out of there."

"Perfect! Wake me up when you get it open."

The team could just picture him throwing up his hands in frustration and collapsing onto the bed. Mitchell was not a man know for great patience, and from the sounds of things, what small amount he did have had been used up awhile ago.

Cold, calculating eyes watched the proceedings with great satisfaction from an alcove at the far end of the hall. His impromptu plan had worked like a charm.

**PLEASE let me know what you thought of this, nice reviews and constructive critisism are always appreciated. The second chapter should be up fairly soon.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Forgot to do something in my first chapter header, so I'll rectify that now: thanks to Loozy for the beta.**

"You're tellin' me the damn thing was sabotaged?!"

Sam winced at Mitchell's outburst, but she could understand his disbelief. "It appears that way; and unfortunately the security videos don't give us a good look at his face."

Landry pinched the bridge of his nose; he honestly didn't know why he kept this team around, they were nothing but trouble. Even banning them from the base hadn't stopped something from happening. They'd been at this for two days now and they were hardly any closer to finding out who'd locked the Col in his room than they were the minute they'd sprung him from confinement. "Do you have anything new for us Col?"

"Not really sir, there's no way to tell who did this. But I think we should maintain a guard on Mitchell for a couple days."

"Hell no!" Cam quickly ducked his head in regret when he remembered his audience, "sorry sir, but it was a practical joke, I do not need a guard."

Teal'c and Daniel shared a look; normally they would have agreed with Mitchell, but something about this just didn't seem right. The SGC was a breeding ground for practical jokers; however, it was rare for anyone to play a joke on someone that wasn't on their team. When Sam glanced their way, they all silently agreed to keep and eye on Cameron as much as they could.

Landry knew that this conversation wasn't doing anything except pissing Mitchell off, so he decided to move on to other topics. The team was scheduled for four upcoming missions within the week; none were supposed to be anything other than peaceful and easy. Of course, he'd used those same adjectives to describe their previous mission too.

An hour and a half later Cameron trailed out of the conference room with the rest of his team in tow. He could feel them watching him and tried to shake off his irritation; easier said than done since he'd been feeling uneasy since the incident. As much as he'd insisted to everyone else that this was nothing more than a practical joke, he knew something was wrong. However, that didn't mean he wanted his friends breathing down his neck until he figured it out. "I'm going to the gym," he muttered without turning to look at them.

"I shall join you Col Mitchell."

Cam whirled and held up a hand, "no offense T, but I'd rather be alone for awhile." He turned and jogged off before anyone could argue with him.

"He's worried," Daniel observed as they watched his retreating back.

Sam nodded, "yup; and I hate to say it, but if this was anything other than a practical joke, we may just have to wait for the guy to strike again."

Teal'c raised an eyebrow, "I do not like that course of action."

"Neither do I Teal'c, but right now we have nothing to go on."

Forty-five minutes of hard running later, Cam wasn't feeling much better than he had when he'd left the briefing room. Usually physical activity was his best option for clearing his head and figuring things out, but none of this made sense; he couldn't think of anyone on base that would have a grudge against him. There seemed to be no discernable motive or pattern to these attacks.

He was just glad no one had found out about that fact that his tires had been slashed the day before. They'd never let him out of their sight if they knew.

Cameron could understand their concern, but the incidents didn't warrant a guard in his mind; while they were inconvenient, none of the attacks had been aimed at harming him physically.

Deciding that the treadmill wasn't helping, Cam moved over to the free weights and began a rigorous upper body workout. An hour of that and he was covered in sweat, exhausted and a _bit_ calmer; he headed off to the locker room for a shower before going to talk to Carolyn.

Mitchell didn't say anything as he entered the infirmary and hopped onto one of the empty beds while he waited for her to finish with Reynolds's team. He returned Reynolds's sympathetic look with a 'it happens' nod of his own, all the while wondering how the whole base appeared to know what was going on. Gossip spread easier than soft butter at the SGC.

Finally Lam finished with SG-3 and turned her soft grey eyes on Cameron; she could tell from the way he fidgeted that the meeting hadn't gone well. "Any news?"

"Sam says it was deliberately sabotaged. We have the security footage from the hall, but it's not much help at all. I'm sure it was just a practical joke."

Cam kept his eyes on the floor; Carolyn had learned to read him even before his team had, and he knew she would see right through the statement. But apparently she didn't need to see his eyes to know what was going on in his head.

"That's not what you think." She pulled herself onto the bed next to him, "you think someone is doing this because they don't like you."

Carolyn had figured out early on that, although Cameron's job was foremost in his life and he would always do his best to do it right, no matter who that put him on the bad side of; his biggest fear was not being liked and respected. The man thrived on having friends, building those close personal relationships, being liked by all those he chose to surround himself with. Cam needed to be loved.

Mitchell looked at her with a startled expression that quickly softened, before he schooled his face into his best I've-got-no-worries-smile. "So the pool tournament has been rescheduled for tomorrow night if you're still up for joining us."

Carolyn took the hint and let their previous topic of conversation go, "sure, sounds good. Do you guys have a mission tomorrow?"

"No, we're not scheduled to go off world until Monday."

"Well, that's good isn't it?"

Cam shook his head, "rather be off-world, be able to concentrate on something other than this. Nobody wants to let it go." They sat in silence for a few minutes, Carolyn allowing him to pout without recrimination, before Mitchell slid off the bed in a huff. "I'm going home, I'll see you tomorrow."

"Cameron wait, you don't look like you want to be alone tonight. Why don't we grab some dinner then do a movie at my place? We can invite the team if you want."

Cam sighed, "that sounds good, but lets leave it just the two of us. Sam, Daniel and Teal'c have been hovering a bit too much lately."

**STARGATE: SG-1**

Carolyn smiled as she looked down on Cameron's sleeping face; apparently a quiet dinner and a funny movie had been just what the doctor ordered. She gently shook his afghan covered shoulder, "good morning sunshine."

Mitchell smiled sleepily at her use of one of his favorite sayings, until he realized that he had no idea where he was. Thankfully the previous night's events took only a second to come back and he looked up into Carolyn's grinning face. "I fell asleep, didn't I?"

"You barely made it a third of the way through the movie; I take it you haven't been sleeping well?"

"Hell, I haven't slept since I took this assignment." He stood up from the couch and efficiently folded the blanket she had placed over him the night before. Cam glanced at his watch and promptly flipped out, "I'm supposed to be at the base in half an hour."

Carolyn simply chuckled as she handed him a travel mug of coffee, "relax, you're already dressed, you don't smell all that bad, and it's only a ten minute drive to the Mountain. Ten bucks says I can even get you there early."

They headed out and jumped in her Honda since he had left his truck at the base. True to her word, Carolyn had him at the base fifteen minutes early. Sharing a joke as they walked across the parking structure, they were completely oblivious to the same cold, calculating eyes taking in their every move.

Mitchell dropped the Doc off on the twenty-sixth floor and headed for the stairs leading to the control room.

He couldn't help the smile that seemed unwilling to leave his face as he thought about the previous night. He and Carolyn had been good friends for a couple of months now, but they hadn't spent a lot of time alone off base together. Dinner had been take-out Indian, but he couldn't remember ever having a better dinner date; and this hadn't even been a real date.

He was so involved with his thoughts that he didn't hear the footsteps on the grate of the stairs behind him until it was too late. A swift tap on his shoulder had him turning around to the full force of a left hook hitting his jaw; without anything to grab onto, the force of the blow knocked Cameron down the stairs.

Mitchell felt himself bounce off the wall and railing several times, his arms flailed trying to gain purchase on anything that would slow his descent down the unforgiving stairs. The world seemed to pass in slow motion until he came to a sliding halt against the wall on the far side of the landing, then everything snapped back into real time and the pain hit.

He tried to push himself up off the concrete to face his attacker only to collapse back down when his body refused to obey his commands, his rattled brain struggled valiantly to organize the damage reports coming in from various parts of his body. Cam tried to force his blurred vision to focus on the face of the large man standing over him; he could see the man's lips moving but could barely make out the words over the roaring in his ears.

"Stay away…"

Mitchell didn't hear the rest as he surrendered to the darkness and pain.

Cameron's attacker looked down on his unconscious body with a feral smile. While his other attacks had been gratifying, they were nothing more than irritations to the man he despised with every fiber of his being. But causing the Col physical pain had been an unexpected rush of adrenaline and he knew he would take great pleasure in doing it again if Mitchell didn't heed his warning, or maybe even if he did.


	3. Chapter 3

Walter stretched and listened contently as his back popped several times; he rarely worked the night shift but sometimes it was just nice to have an uneventful shift. Of course, around here, even the graveyard shift wasn't guaranteed to be boring.

He looked over at the young airman sitting next to him; the kid had spent the last six hours telling him how much all the techs looked up to and respected him and that was after two hours of silent staring. Walter was sure that his head was at least a couple cubic inches bigger than it had been at the start of the shift. The kid was a bigger fanboy than Mitchell had ever been. It was nice though, considering how under-appreciated he was by certain other people on the base.

"I'm going to get some coffee, would you like some?"

The kid swallowed loudly, "um, no thank you, Sgt. Harriman, sir."

"Ok, well, she's all yours," Walter gestured expansively to the control room. He managed to make it out of the room before snickering at the kid's barely contained _meep_!.

He paused briefly as he passed the elevator banks and decided to take the stairs instead; one could only sit for so long without performing some form of physical activity. He listened carefully upon entering the stairwell to make sure he was alone, before he closed his eyes and began humming the cha-cha. The woman he'd recently started seeing was an avid ball room dancer, and somewhere along the line he'd realized that doing the cha-cha on the stairs was actually a great way to learn it.

Walter's eyes snapped open when he nearly fell headlong into the wall after trying to take a step up where there wasn't one. An inert form on the far side of the landing instantly drew his attention.

"Col Mitchell?"

Walter took in the visible bruises and the small pool of blood beneath his head even as he checked for a pulse. Feeling a strong, steady beat beneath his fingers, he jumped to his feet in search of the nearest security phone.

After placing the call he bounded back up the stairs to Cameron's side; he was pleased to see the man stirring. "Col, lie still, you might be injured."

"I won't say I'm fine, but I am ok to move." Cam groaned as he pushed himself into the sitting position. One hand dropped to his knee while the other wrapped tightly around his ribs when pain flared in both locations.

Walter nodded uncertainly, "do you know what happened?"

"Someone hit me, hard."

**STARGATE: SG-1**

Carolyn could feel the other nurses eyeing her and she knew that the night shift must have passed on the news that she and Cameron left the base together. The smile that wouldn't leave her face didn't do anything to dissuade the thoughts that were most likely running rampant through their heads.

"So…."

Carolyn turned to see Lt Jessica Rush staring at her expectantly, "so what?"

Rush laughed appreciatively, "well Doc, I can tell you that if I went home with a man like Col Mitchell, there would definitely be a 'so'."

Her face fell slightly when she thought about the man she'd had that was very much like Mitchell; but that had been three years ago and he was back on his home world now, hopefully still alive and fighting the Ori.

"He's my friend and he needed company; there's no 'so'," Lam ducked her head slightly to hide the blush that had crept up into her cheeks. It had taken her an extremely long time to fall asleep knowing that Cam was curled up on her couch all alone.

Carolyn had been trying to think of a good way of broaching the relationship issue with Cameron for the last couple weeks, but something always seemed to come up. First he'd disappeared for two weeks, then all the other SG-1's showed up- it had been very interesting to learn that she was married to him in more than one reality-, then his friend had died, the list went on and on.

"MEDICAL TEAM TO LEVEL 27, SOUTH STAIRWELL!"

Carolyn grabbed her kit and took off for the specified location, trusting her staff to be right behind her with a stretcher. She bounded down the stairs, careful not to slip and fall herself, only to stop in her tracks when she saw the object of her recent musings sitting against the wall with a _very_ dazed expression and blood coating the side of his face.

"Cameron!"

It took a couple of seconds, but Cam finally responded to his name, "Hey Carolyn, I'm-"

"Don't you dare say you're fine." She knelt in front of him and quickly flicked her pen light in his eyes, confirming her spot diagnosis of a concussion. "Other than your head, where's it hurt?" Carolyn gave him a look that dared him to try and hide anything from her.

"Right knee, left ribs and shoulder. My neck and back are fine, and I'm sure the others are just bruises."

"Why don't you let me be the judge of that." Lam nodded as she gently palpated the areas he'd specified; she mentally cataloged the number and severity of his winces in each location. Thankfully there didn't seem to be any major damage; he'd most likely cracked a couple ribs, but his knee and shoulder were moving well.

She turned towards the orderlies that were waiting patiently behind her, "help him to the infirmary please; I'm assuming you're going to decline the stretcher?" She knew the answer to that question without even looking at him.

Cam smiled, "you got that right, but is there any chance I can just go back to my quart-" he stopped abruptly when her patented 'say-it-and-die' look was turned on him full force, "never mind." Mitchell bit his lip against the pain as the two men helped him to his feet and they started up the stairs.

Carolyn watched them go before turning to face Walter, "the rest of his team is going to want to know about this."

Walter simply nodded before heading off in search of the other three fourths of SG-1.

Fifteen minutes later Mitchell was stitched and lying beneath the x-ray machine.

"You know, you take any more of these and I'm going to start glowing in the dark." His head was killing him and he was sick of being poked and prodded; Cam really just wanted to be left alone.

Carolyn ignored him as she set up the last x-ray of his knee.

Cameron took the slight in stride and realized that he'd probably been a bit too short with everyone lately. He decided to savor the silence, knowing that as soon as the team got a hold of him, peace and quiet wouldn't be an option for a very long time.

Sure enough, Sam, Daniel, Teal'c, and strangely enough General Landry were waiting for him back in the main infirmary. Mitchell suppressed a growl and schooled his face into a look of appropriate respect, "sir, guys, I'm fine."

Landry nodded, accepting the blatant lie for now, "What happened Col?"

"Sir, all I remember was getting tapped on the shoulder, then a fist hitting my jaw. I never saw his face."

"I've got Col Reynolds reviewing the security footage as we speak, hopefully he can come up with something. In the mean time, I'm placing you under protective guard, and no arguments Col."

"Yes sir," he murmured, trying to ignore Sam's 'told you so' look.

"Cam, can you think of anyone with any reason to hurt you?" Carter was definitely not happy with this turn of events, and she knew everyone else felt the same way; locking Cameron in his room could easily have been a practical joke, but there was no mistaking the intent behind this attack.

Mitchell watched silently as Carolyn wrapped a brace around his knee, "your guess is as good as mine, Sam. Hell, we've been off-world for most of the last three weeks."

"The problem is that we don't know who we can trust," Daniel shoved his hands in his pockets, "it could have been almost anybody on base. So, it looks like you're stuck with us until we get this taken care of."

Cam closed his eyes as his head dropped back to the pillow, and he thought they had hovered the last few days. "Fine, then lets get this taken care of, why don't you guys go help Reynolds go through that tape." He saw their dubious looks at leaving him alone, "no one is going to risk coming after me in here, not with Dr. Danger over there lurking around."

Carolyn blushed knowing that he was referring to her black belt in Tae Kwon Do, "I'll keep an eye on him, he's going to be in here the rest of the day anyway."

They all ignored Cameron's dramatic groan.

**STARGATE: SG-1**

Teal'c's face remained impassive as he continued to stare at the screen, but a small tick was starting to develop in the corner of his eye. The last week had been nothing but dead ends; they'd managed to narrow their list of suspects to a whopping fifty-seven base personnel based on general body type and their duty roster.

Basically, they'd gotten no where.

Mitchell had gotten fed up with the process an hour ago and stomped off toward the commissary, mumbling promises to stay in populated areas. Teal'c could understand his frustration, they were men of action; better at reading people than computer screens and numbers.

The big Jaffa rose to his feet with a quiet growl, "I will go check on Col Mitchell."

Daniel and Sam shared a look, surprised that the other two men lasted as long as they had. They were all frustrated, they wanted justice; but this guy was good, who ever he was. Hell, they didn't even know what color hair the guy had, let along who he was.

Teal'c wasn't all that surprised when he didn't find Cam in the commissary; when it came to men like them, frustration was rarely dissipated by eating. The only way to get rid of it was with physical activity. So he headed for the gym, and while he'd known that Cameron would be there, he hadn't expected to find the man sparring with the new kid from Reynolds' team.

"Col Mitchell, are you sure that is wise?"

"Ah hell, Teal'c, it's been a week, I'm fine." His statement was immediately belied by a wince as he swept the staff in a downward arc toward his opponent. He continued the fight even as he watched Teal'c with his peripheral vision, "the others send you down here to make sure I was behaving myself?"

Teal'c cocked his head, giving the younger man a look that could only be interpreted 'yeah right'. "They did not; I grew wary of the research."

Mitchell swept the marine's feet from beneath him yet again, before leaning heavily on the staff and smiling at Teal'c. "I can dig that. You want in," he nodded to where the kid was slowly making his way off the mat.

Teal'c couldn't help but smile with pride; Cam had progressed well since his time with the Sodan and Teal'c knew that was in part thanks to him. Even still on the road to recovery, Mitchell had wiped the floor with the young soldier.

"I would be honored."

He took careful note of the brace surrounding the Col's knee and the bruising along his shoulder and ribs that peeked from beneath his tank top with each movement. Teal'c knew that they both had some energy to burn, but he would not risk hurting Cameron further. He took a staff off the wall and began the almost dance-like movements of the Sodan fighting style.

They fought several rounds before Teal'c called a halt; he hadn't missed the way Cam's movements had become slower and less forceful as they progressed.

**STARGATE: SG-1**

From across the room another pair of eyes watched the Col's movements like a hawk; trying to discern any weakness there.

Mitchell had blatantly ignored his ultimatum over the last week, stalking around the SGC like he owned the place and everyone in it, and it was time for him to pay. He would have put his next plan into action much sooner, but the Col was rarely out of the company of at least one of his team.

He had no desire to hurt the other members of SG-1, but he would not allow them to stand in his way. A new plan slowly began to formulate in his head as he watched the two men exit the gym.


	4. Chapter 4

Teal'c looked up as Carolyn approached their table, "Dr Lam, please join us." He pushed out a chair for her.

"Hey Carolyn, movie at Mitchell's tonight at eight. You can car pool with me if you'd like."

"Thanks Sam, that sounds like a plan." She cocked her head questioningly, "I'm surprised he's up for that, I wouldn't have figured he'd want more company after not being alone at all for the last week."

"I figured as long as I was stuck with ya'll, we might as well have some fun." Cam dropped his tray at the end of the table before slumping into the accompanying chair. "So, you coming?"

"Yeah, I think Sam, Teal'c and I are going to be a few minutes behind you guys though; my shift doesn't end till 2030 hours. You guys headed off world today?"

Daniel glanced at his watch, "in about fifteen minutes, in fact." He couldn't help but join Sam and Carolyn in laughing when Cameron and Teal'c tucked into their food with even more gusto.

Mitchell looked up, "what, I'm a growing boy."

"Right."

Teal'c, always the voice of reason, piped up, "perhaps it is time we proceed to the gate room."

Carolyn watched Cam shovel the last few bites into his mouth as the rest of the team took care of their trays. "How's your knee feeling?"

"Great, unless I do something stupid."

"So you're telling me it hurts every second of the day then?"

Cam just shot her an amused glare as he hurried after his teammates. "Everyone's a comedian," he muttered to a young Lt on his way past. He caught up with the team at the entrance to the gate room. They received a couple more quick instructions from the General before stepping through the puddle.

Emerging into the sunlight on the other side, Cameron was happy to see that their welcoming party at least appeared to be un-armed.

Three hours into the banquet, Sam's ass was numb; the portrayal of this culture's history was very interesting, but did it have to be _this_ long? She glanced over at Daniel who was listening to the historian with rapt attention- typical, then over to Teal'c and Cameron who appeared to be listening intently but also looked like they desperately needed a break. She caught Cam's attention and gave him a sympathetic look which he returned.

Mitchell was just itching to stand up and stretch- he could feel the stiffness settling into his recently injured body- but he'd been on this job long enough to know that just wasn't done.

This banquet was only the first step in establishing relations with this new civilization; although they were nearly as technologically advanced as earth, this planet rigidly adhered to many of their old traditions. One of which turned out to be a retelling of their _entire _history before any major decisions were made; ostensibly to remind the leaders where they came from.

Just as Sam was contemplating the merits of rigging her radio to sound the emergency signal, the High Chancellor stood, signaling the end of the retelling.

He turned to face the team, "Now that you know of our history, we can begin the negotiations of technological trade and mutual defense. However, you must allow us time to determine our stipulations; thus, we will contact you in one days time."

Cam stood and returned the Chancellor's slight bow, "That sounds good, your honor, but there is a slight chance that we will be unavailable and another delegation will be sent. If that happens, we'll bring them up to speed on everything and they will have the full backing of our government."

"I'm afraid that is unacceptable, Col," the elderly man shook his head emphatically. "Only you have first hand knowledge of our history; therefore, only your team is qualified to represent Earth in these negotiations."

"Ok, then I guess we'll be here."

The team said their good-byes and headed for the gate. As they walked, Daniel placed his hands on his hips and stretched his back out, "well that was fun." His sarcasm was not lost on the rest of the team.

"It appeared that you were enjoying yourself immensely, DanielJackson."

Jackson gave a sly grin, "only because I figured out the P48-297 translation; I'd already read their entire history when the sent it through the gate last week."

No one could think of a suitable response.

**STARGATE: SG-1**

"Jackson, hurry your ass up! We've gotta pick up the pizza and beer before the others get there."

Daniel muttered something in ancient as he flipped his laptop shut; "fine, but I'm driving."

"That makes two of us then; I have a bunch of junk in the back of my truck that needs to go home. So you ready or not?" His relaxed pose against the door frame completely contradicted the urgency in his voice.

They rode to the surface in a comfortable silence and separated in the direction of their cars. "Hey, where's this place we're going to again?"

Cam looked over the hood of his truck at Jackson's Subaru three cars down the line from him. "Its about a block from my place; just follow me there."

Daniel nodded as he got into the small SUV; he opened the sunroof to let the crisp October night air in as he waited for Cameron to pull out. He opted for silence over the radio as he ran through his latest progress on the translation. His revelations during the retelling had brought up some interesting references to the Grail once he'd gotten back to his lab. He was vaguely aware of the guard waving him through the gate as he continued to only divert ten percent of his brain to driving.

And since ten percent of his brain was focused on keeping the car on the road, and the other ninety percent devoted to the translation, there was none left to notice the blazer moving rapidly towards his back bumper. Until it was _on_ his bumper.

Jackson swiveled the steering wheel, trying to keep the car on the road after the force of the collision knocked it sideways. When his brain finally caught up with reality, he couldn't believe what was happening, but that barely had time to register as he was hit again from behind. Unable to react fast enough, Daniel could only brace himself as his Forrester was forced down the ditch and into a tree.

Cam's brow furrowed in confusion when Jackson's headlight beams began waving erratically across the road and finally disappeared; he immediately made a U-turn to see what the problem was.

His heart jumped into his throat when his high beams revealed Daniel's car crumpled at the base of a large Lodge Pole pine tree. Cameron's feet hit the ground running the second he slammed the truck into park; he wrenched open the driver's side door and shoved the deflated airbag out of the way, "Jackson!"

When there was no response, Mitchell began checking the other man for any obvious injuries, all the while continuing to call his name.

Daniel could hear someone beckoning him back to the land of the living; his eyes snapped open as the events of the last few minutes overpowered his consciousness. He blinked owlishly and slowly turned his head toward his team leader, "Mit-ll?"

Cameron sighed with relief, "yeah Jackson, I'm here, just stay still ok." He was grateful that the interior light was still working, as it allowed him to see that other than the obvious concussion, Daniel appeared unhurt.

It also allowed him to see the archeologist's eyes widen in warning a split second before he caught the movement out of the corner of his eye.

He dropped to the ground even as he felt the whoosh of air of the baseball bat that missed his head by the barest of margins and smashed through the diver's side window of the Subaru. Cam kicked back and smiled as his effort was rewarded with a loud woof from his attacker; there was no doubt in his mind that this was the same man that had locked him in his room, slashed his tires, pushed him down the stairs, and now, had run Jackson off the road.

Mitchell spun, staying low to the ground incase his assailant had managed to maintain his hold on the bat. His eyes widened as he recognized one of the newly transferred members of SG-19, "Wilks!?"

Sgt. Ethan Wilks ignored Cam's disbelieving whisper as he swung the bat in a wide arc where he knew the Col's injured ribs to be. Cameron turned, diminishing the force of the blow, and lunged at the marine, landing a telling blow to the man's chest. Unfortunately, Wilks recovered quickly and brought the bat down onto Mitchell's bum knee.

The Sgt had studied his nemesis extensively in the last few days; not only had he paid attention to what moves Mitchell used most often, he knew exactly where the man was still hurting. He used that knowledge to parry Cameron's skilled attacks and land several debilitating blows on the Col. It took a number of minutes, but Wilks was finally able to gain the upper hand.

Daniel watched helplessly and only partially comprehending, unable to force his body to move, as the massive marine literally threw Cam into the side of his car. He knew there was no way the Col would be getting up from that anytime soon. It took his rattled brain several seconds to come to the natural conclusion that he could not allow the unknown man to get away with this; he forced himself to look down to unlatch his seat belt. Jackson immediately knew it was a mistake as the movement sent his head spinning and allowed the darkness to claim him.

**STARGATE: SG-1**

Carolyn couldn't help but chuckle at Teal'c's beanie; the florescent pink was definitely a new statement for him. "Sorry I'm late; never thought I'd get my paperwork finished."

"No problem, Cam and Daniel left about half an hour ago, so they should have had plenty of time to pick up the pizza and beer by now." Sam ushered the other two to her Cherokee.

They made small talk as they left the base and headed down the deserted road toward Cam's house. Carolyn was starting to thoroughly enjoy spending time with the team. Early on she had been afraid that they would be too much of a reminder of the tragedy she saw on a daily basis; but now she knew better, hanging out with them was a way to honor her work while still getting on with her life.

Teal'c listened to the two women chat as he watched the on-coming head lights, "I believe that vehicle is on the wrong side of the road."

Carter quieted as she focused on the lights, "you're right Teal'c, but it's not moving."

"That's Cameron's truck!"

"And Daniel's car!" Sam whipped her jeep to the side of the road; she barely had the vehicle stopped before Teal'c and Carolyn had bailed out, headed for Jackson's open car door.

Lam's fingers quickly found their way to Daniel's neck even as she yelled back to Carter, "Sam, call the base, get an ambulance up here!" She crawled into the back seat and used the driver's seat head rest t o stabilize Jackson's cervical spine; the last thing they needed was to hurt him anymore by not taking proper precautions.

Sam clicked her phone shut after giving the airman their location. Freezing when she sensed movement behind her, she turned to find a very worried Jaffa.

"I can not locate Col Mitchell."


	5. Chapter 5

**Sorry this one is pretty short, insane week. More to come soon.**

"What do you mean you can't find him? Cam wouldn't leave Daniel in this condition."

Sam began searching the area with Teal'c for any sign of the Col; she nearly let herself panic when she got a good look at Jackson's back bumper. A quiet groan emanating from the car interrupted her in the process of calling for Teal'c.

"Daniel, stay still, the ambulance is on the way." Carolyn kept a firm grip on his head and neck to reinforce her statement.

Sam and Teal'c immediately crowded into the open driver's side door, "Daniel, do you know what happened?"

Jackson closed his eyes and took a deep breath, trying to quell the nausea churning in his gut. "Someone hit me… then Mitchell was here, and the guy attacked him with… something. I tried to help, but…"

"Did you get a good look at him?"

"I-, it was too dark."

Teal'c could see that the injured man was quickly becoming agitated, "do not worry DanielJackson, we will find him." He and Sam moved away from the car to allow the newly arrived medics access to Daniel; they waited impatiently as the medics transferred their teammate to a stretcher and moved him to the ambulance.

"Carolyn?"

"Definite concussion, he wasn't complaining of any other injuries, but I'll know more after I get some x-rays." Lam bit her lip and wrung her hands nervously, "any sign of Cameron?" She had her answer when neither of them would meet her eyes.

Carolyn swallowed her fear as she headed for the ambulance. "I'm going back to the base with Daniel; call me _when_ you find Cameron."

It was only then that Sam and Teal'c noticed that Col Reynolds and his team had arrived with the ambulance and begun to set up floodlights, illuminating the area better for the up coming search. They watched in silence as Reynolds approached them, still having difficulty coming to terms with the fact that one friend was injured, another was missing and they weren't even off-world.

"Did Dr. Jackson give you any idea what happened?"

Sam shook her head, "all he could tell us was that someone forced him off the road, then attacked Cam when he came back to help."

"Is it possible that this guy took Col Mitchell with him?" Reynolds watch their eyes widen and realized that they probably hadn't made it that far down their list of scenarios yet. "Why don't you call his cell phone, if he's still here that could help us find him."

Sam nodded numbly as she pulled her cell phone back out of her pocket. A cold ball of fear had instantly formed in her stomach at Reynolds's question; there was no doubt in her mind that this was the same assailant from the other attacks, and each attack had been an escalation of the previous. She quickly punched his speed dial number- the number three placement had been reserved for him long before either of them began working at the SGC- and held her breath, hoping beyond hope that she would hear his "It's a Great Day to Be Alive" ring tone. Carter nearly melted to the ground in relief when she heard a muffled sound coming from the shadows behind Daniel's car.

The trio quickly followed the sound further down into the ditch; but instead of finding their missing friend, they were confronted with three separate pieces of his cell phone, miraculously still proclaiming that it was a "Great Day to Be Alive".

Teal'c had heard the song several times while in the car with Cameron, and he could only hope that the song still rang true for the man; he quickly forced those thoughts aside, not allowing himself to believe anything except that his teammate was still alive. "Perhaps we should see if any vehicles left the base near the time of Col Mitchell and DanielJackson's departure."

"Already done Teal'c; the gate guards are going through their records as we speak." Reynolds bent down to collect the scattered pieces of the cell phone, his fingers sliding over the slick grass as he grabbed for the last piece. He brought his hand into the light and wasn't really all that surprised to find his finger tips covered in blood.

He held his hand up for the others to see, "there's not a lot here, but someone is definitely injured."

**STARGATE: SG-1**

The grass next to Daniel's car wasn't the only place where there was blood; Cameron spat, trying to rid the coppery taste from his mouth. He gave up and swallowed heavily to tamp down on the waves of nausea that rolled through his body; having a concussion was bad enough- he'd learned to recognize the symptoms in himself shortly after joining the SGC-, but rolling around in the bed of a speeding truck wasn't exactly doing much to help. His head bounced painfully off the wheel-well one more time before he was able to brace his bound hands against the hard metal to prevent it from happening again.

He wasn't all that worried for his own safety- strange considering the pain he was in now; if Wilks had wanted to kill him, he would have already- but more concerned about how his friends would handle this. He had every faith that his team would be able to find him, he just worried that they would run themselves completely ragged in the process. And with Jackson down…

Cam literally shook the thought from his head, and instantly regretted the movement. Note to self…

Jackson was not down; from the looks of things he'd only had a minor concussion, and much that Carolyn's dismay, that would not be enough to keep Daniel from looking for him.

Despite what many people thought, he and the archeologist had grown extremely close over the last few months. He knew they would never have what Jack had with the man, Daniel and the General had been through so much together, but they has become way more than co-workers. Their talk after the destruction of the Prometheus had done wonders for both their psyches, not comfort per say, but maybe something of a resolution.

He'd learned that he hated Jackson's self-sacrificing nature as much, if not more than Daniel hated his.

Mitchell tensed as he felt the early model Ford leave the main road; they were obviously nearing their destination. If he was honest with himself, he knew that he'd been out of it for much of the trip, but he also knew that they'd been traveling for at least half an hour. However, they'd been on paved roads for the majority of the journey, which indicated that there was a good chance they were within ten to fifteen miles of some form of civilization. So, even if he couldn't get the truck, he could make a run for it, assuming he could get away from Wilks with both hands tied behind his back.

Yup, just another day in the life of an SG-1 member.


	6. Chapter 6

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, where do you think you're going?"

"Out to help Sam and Teal'c."

Carolyn crossed her arms and wondered if escape attempts from the infirmary were a requirement for being on SG-1. "Fine, if you can get out of that bed without falling over, I'll let you leave."

Jackson smelled a trap; but he also wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth. He sat up slowly and swung his legs off the bed. Daniel's entire body ached from the force of the crash, but he'd managed to escape with nothing more than a concussion. He glanced up at Lam with a confident smile on his face, but his knees buckled the second he let go of the bedrail.

Carolyn easily caught him beneath the arms and helped him back up onto the bed. "Give it six hours Daniel." She chewed her bottom lip as she helped him cover his legs back up with the blanket, "I know you're worried about Cameron, I am too, but if anyone can find him, it's Sam and Teal'c." Lam did her best to keep the uncertainty out of her voice; the fact that she hadn't heard from Sam yet was telling her that he hadn't been in the area.

Even with his double vision Daniel could see the intense fear in her eyes. "You like him, don't you?"

"Um, I-" Carolyn paused to compose herself slightly, "of course I like him, he's my friend. Just like you are." She managed to hang on to her best 'who me?' grin for several seconds before the reality of the situation caught up her again.

"Riiight."

That's when she melted.

Lam slumped down on the edge of the bed and dropped her face into her hands, "I could never figure out how to tell him; and now I may be too late."

Daniel awkwardly pulled her head down onto his shoulder, his scrub shirt soaking up her tears. He'd never seen Carolyn so un-glued before, the depth of her sorrow spoke volumes to how much she truly cared for Cam. And here he'd been ready to wallow in his own guilt over not being able to protect Mitchell, but right now a friend needed him.

He gently rocked her back and forth, waiting for her sobs to diminish "hey, come on now, we _will _find him, and he _will_ be ok."

Carolyn finally sat up and discreetly wiped at her eyes, "thanks Daniel. Ok, back to business; headache?"

"Getting better."

"Nausea?"

"Not anymore."

"Good." She flicked the pen light across his eyes one more time before making some notations in his chart. "Rest, I'll let you know if I hear anything from Sam and Teal'c." She was several steps away before another thought struck her, "and Daniel, there was nothing you could have done. This guy would have gotten to Cameron one way or another."

Jackson allowed his head to drop back onto the pillow; logically he knew she was right, this guy was beyond persistent, but that didn't stop the guilt from eating at him.

He was a little foggy on everything that had happened, but he knew it had been a spectacular fight. It had been apparent from the start that not only was the attacker well trained, but that he'd studied Cameron's fighting style extensively. And Daniel had just sat there watching; granted, he probably wouldn't have stood much of a chance against the larger man, but maybe together he and Mitchell could have gained the upper hand.

The different scenarios played in Daniel's head as he slowly drifted off to sleep.

**STARGATE: SG-1**

He held his breath, listening to the soft crunch of the gravel driveway as Wilks made his way around to the back of the truck. Cam feigned unconsciousness as Wilks opened the hatch to the topper and roughly lowered the tailgate; he slit his eyes open just enough to get a location on the marine and realize that there was a 9 millimeter in his hand. The second Wilks reached for his legs, Cameron let loose with a vicious kick, knocking the gun from his right hand; the back swing catching Wilks squarely in the jaw.

Wilks stumbled back several steps from the sudden attack, another boot to the chest sent him crashing to the ground. He had severely underestimated his captive; he hated the Col with a passion but there was no denying that the man knew his business.

Mitchell didn't waste any time as Wilks stumbled away from the tailgate, landing one more blow; he managed to scramble out of the bed of the truck somewhat gracefully. He didn't bother looking back at Wilks as he ran for the woods; if he made it to the dense vegetation, he had a chance of getting away clean. The quarter moon gave him just enough light to navigate his way across the clearing, but Cam knew it would also provide plenty of shadows for him to hide in once he reached the trees. He heard a commotion behind him and knew that the marine Sgt had made it to his feet; from the sounds of things he was pursuing immediately rather than taking the time to look for his hand gun. Cameron wasn't really sure if that was a good thing or not; on one hand it would have given him more of a lead, on the other, he didn't really feel like getting shot at right now.

Legs pumping as hard as they could, Cam forced himself to ignore the pain in his body. He once again sent a mental thank you to the Sodan; his agility training at their hands was probably the only reason he was still on his feet in the rough terrain despite his bound hands altering his center of gravity.

He hurdled a log at the entrance to the woods, but nearly collapsed as he landed on his injured knee. Three more steps and the knee gave way again, sending Mitchell crashing into a tree and trying desperately trying to maintain his feet.

Wilks smiled as he saw his prey stumble several times; he waited until the Col managed to scramble back to his feet before taking them both to the ground in a diving tackle. Flipping the struggling man to his back, the marine drove his fist into Cam's jaw and immediately felt the fight leave him. He slung his semi-conscious captive over his shoulders and started the trek back toward the small cabin.

"That was not smart Col. You shouldn't have ignored my first warning; now you will see what I want you to see and then I will decide your fate."

Cam suppressed an unconscious shiver at the Sgt's cold tone. He would have liked to make a smart ass comment at that point, bolster his own confidence, but his brain was now running about three minutes behind the rest of him. A quiet, croaked 'why?' was all he could manage as Wilks shoved the cabin door open.

"Because you are not perfect and everyone doesn't love you as you seem to believe."

He dropped Cameron into a wooden backed dining room chair and re-secured his zip-tied hands to the back of the chair. Wilks didn't say another word as he moved into the small kitchen, apparently to fix himself dinner.

Cam really couldn't have cared less; Wilks's words had taken nearly as much fight out of his as his fist had. And with the adrenaline from the last several minutes starting to wear off, he was having a very difficult time maintaining a conscious state.

Unable to control the directions his thoughts took, Cameron was brought back time and again to the marine's comment. He wasn't pretentious enough to believe that everyone _loved_ him, but he couldn't help but wonder if there were others that hated him as much as Wilks obviously did. He'd been blind enough to miss Wilks's animosity, not that he'd ever spoken more than two words to the man. Cam was introspective enough to know that he was much happier when he was liked by those around him; but how much had that clouded his judgment of reality.

From the other room, Wilks watched with an evil grin as the pilot's head dropped further and further toward his chest. It was easy to discern that his mental and physical warfare were both taking an extreme toll on Mitchell.

**STARGATE: SG-1**

General Landry surveyed the people surrounding the conference table as he tried to keep his cool, "how many?"

"Thirty-one, sir, but several of those can be ruled out since they belong to female personnel. According to the security tapes and Dr. Jackson, Col Mitchell's assailant is male. If we move out two hours from their departure time, the number of viable suspects goes up to fifty-eight."

Landry accepted Reynolds's report with a depressed nod. He turned his attention to a quiet figure at the end of the table, "Dr. Jackson, how are you feeling?"

"I'm fine General." In truth his head hurt like hell and he was incredibly stiff, but Daniel wasn't going to let that stop him from taking part in this investigation.

The General wasn't fooled in the least, but he had enough bad news to impart during this meeting, so he wasn't going to push Jackson right now. "Col Reynolds, you're in charge of the investigation, I want updates every four hours. The Odyssey has been recalled, it will be here in three days in case we don't find Col Mitchell by that time."

"General, what of the satellite system that was developed for the locators? Can we not use that to locate Col Mitchell?"

"I'm sorry Teal'c, it won't be operational for another month."

Sam hung her head, blaming herself for the delays in the project; she'd handed off the locating system technology to be implanted in the satellites two weeks ago, but development had taken longer than she expected. She looked up when she felt a warm hand drop comfortingly onto her shoulder. Carter gave the other woman a half smile, all the while avoiding meeting Carolyn's eyes, knowing that she would see her own fear and worry reflected there.

"Moving on, we received at transmission from the Birnyans a short time ago. They are ready to begin negotiations tomorrow; you leave at 0900." Landry discreetly prepared himself for the outburst he knew would be coming.

"WHAT!? I'm sorry sir, but I'm not going anywhere until we get Cameron back."

Teal'c's outraged growl and Daniel's sputtering effectively showed their support of Sam's statement.

"Col, I don't like this anymore than you do, believe me. I attempted to explain our situation to them, but the Birnyans won't budge; it's you or no one, and it's tomorrow or never. The IOA is chomping at the bit to get their hands on the Birnyans' shield technology; they're not giving me a choice on this one." The General's explanation had done nothing to soften the glares that were being shot in his direction from everyone at the table, but he did have an ace up his sleeve. "However, I did manage to convince them that our delegates were not allowed to negotiate for more than six hours in a span of two days, union regulations and all. And I will recall you immediately if we find Col Mitchell."

Daniel finally nodded, not doubting that Landry had done everything in his power to talk their way out of this one. Mitchell and the General weren't exactly close, but anyone could see the immense respect they had for each other. That and Jackson had overheard a conversation between the General and Jack; Landry telling O'Neill how impressed he was with Cameron, and that if Jack couldn't be there, he was glad it was Mitchell leading the team.

Sam quickly checked her watch, realizing that it was now well past 0300. It was going to be a short night.

"Go get some sleep people; we've got a long day ahead of us tomorrow."


	7. Chapter 7

Cameron tried to drag himself back to lucidity as his sub-conscious registered Wilks moving around the cabin; he really needed to figure out what the marine had planned for him. But his body refused to respond, stating emphatically that it needed rest after all he'd put it through recently.

The next time he was able to comprehend anything, a diesel engine was roaring to life outside. Figuring that he had at least eight hours before Wilks returned, Cam allowed himself a few minutes for the pounding in his head to subside.

When his vision finally cleared, he took a detailed visual survey of his current location. The cabin was small and sparely furnished and Cameron couldn't help thinking that it would have made a great vacation spot under different circumstances. The curtains were drawn keeping the room dimly lit although the sun had clearly already risen. The cabin appeared to consist of the living room, a small kitchen and dining area, and a hallway leading off to a bedroom and bathroom.

He shifted in the chair, trying desperately to force his face down to his shoulder. The urge to itch the dried blood caked on the side of his face and neck was nearly unbearable.

Ignoring the all consuming numbness in his arms, Mitchell tested the zip-ties that bound his hands behind the chair; he'd used them on enough prisoners that know that if they were tight enough, there was no way he'd be getting out of them without some help. Why didn't anyone use good old fashion hand cuffs anymore? Seriously! He'd refrained from letting the team know it, but Carter wasn't the only one that knew how to pick locks; Cameron may have been a golden boy in the Air Force, but he'd learned hundreds of ways to get into, _and out of_, trouble before that part of his life began.

Cameron forced his feet further beneath him and slowly levered himself forward until he was standing, albeit somewhat awkwardly with the chair forcing him into a ninety degree bend at his hips. He blinked against the blackness as all the blood rushed to his head. Cam shuffled over to the front window and used his head to push the curtains aside, trying not to focus on how ridiculous he looked right now.

One definitely needed to be able to laugh at ones self in his line of work.

Cameron slowly moved around the cabin, searching for anything that could aid his attempts to liberate himself. Two hours and two broken lamps later, he was sweating heavily and no closer to finding a solution. Cam hung his head in resignation for the time being; he wasn't about to give up, but right now, he really needed a break.

He let his mind drift to the team as he allowed his body a much needed rest. Cam wondered if Carolyn was still attempting to keep Jackson in the infirmary; she could be nearly as stubborn as the rest of them when it came to their health. He thought back to the two days he'd been forced to spend in there after he returned from the Sodan village; between the partially open staff-blast wound, a concussion, broken ribs, and the infection in his leg, she hadn't left him alone for more than an hour a time. Of course, if he wanted to be honest with himself, having her there had definitely made his stay much more bearable.

To keep his mind occupied, he ran through their proposed schedule for the day- nothing was ever set in stone at the SGC. Cameron lifted his head quickly as he realized what he was supposed to be doing right now, the negotiations with the Birnyans. The High Chancellor had been adamant that they be present for the negotiations and that said negotiations took place on the Council's time table. Mitchell silently hoped the team wouldn't let his absence stand in the way of getting their hands on the much needed shield technology the Birnyans were offering. That technology would save thousands of lives, and he could take care of himself for awhile yet.

A short while later, Cam forced himself back to his feet for another exploration of the cabin, hoping for all he was worth that he'd missed something on the first time around.

**STARGATE: SG-1**

There was rarely a day that went by that Carolyn didn't long for some peace and quiet in her infirmary, but today she would _almost_ rather have a string of emergencies, one after the other. Anything to keep her mind off the fact that Cameron was still missing.

Lam had every confidence in Reynolds's ability to run the investigation, but she just felt in her heart that his team would be the ones to find him; and with them off-world right now, his rescue was being delayed. She didn't blame her father for sending SG-1 to the negotiations; she knew Cameron would not have wanted to trade his freedom for the shield technology that would save countless lives. That was one of the things that always wanted to make her smack and kiss him all in the same second; he always felt that something else was more important than his life and health.

Carolyn shuffled the forms in front of her, trying to focus her thoughts on the task at hand. She was able to maintain that focus for all of five seconds before looking at the clock again. The team had been gone for two hours and she had one more hour before she had to go home; the General had threatened to escort her to the main gate himself if she didn't go home and get some rest by noon.

She knew he was right; if she didn't start getting some sleep soon it would start affecting her judgment. And in her job, if her judgment was off, people died.

Lam shuffled the paperwork one more time, poised her pen, and promptly threw it across the room. She was rarely given to displays of violence or frustration, but that had felt good, _damn_ good. Deciding that physical activity would be the only thing that could shut her brain down long enough for her to exhaust herself and maybe actually get some sleep, Carolyn shoved the dreaded forms into a file and locked them in her desk. There was always someone willing to spar at the gym where she took her Tae Kwon Do classes, so she grabbed her gear from the locker in her office and headed for the elevator to the surface. She didn't bother to explain her departure to any of the nursing staff; she wasn't actually on duty right now anyway.

The petite doctor's thoughts turned back to her missing friend the second the elevator doors closed. She couldn't help but wonder how he was fairing at that exact moment; from what Daniel could remember of the fight, she knew that Cameron would have most likely aggravated his existing injuries and was probably sporting a couple new ones.

She looked up in surprise when the elevator dinged, announcing her arrival at the parking garage. She'd been so lost in her thoughts that the ninety second ride- the mountain elevators weren't exactly known for their speed- had gone by in the blink of an eye. Carolyn stopped three steps after leaving the elevator and realized that she had no idea where she'd parked her car, not all that disconcerting since she hadn't laid eyes on it in two full days. Searching through her purse for her keys, she was unprepared for the arm that snaked around her waist and the cloth that was forced over her mouth and nose.

Lam drew in a breath to scream and instantly became light-headed; some where in the back of her mind the sweet smelling odor connected with the name of a drug: Chloroform. She drove her elbow back into her attacker's mid-section, but the anesthetic had already rendered her movements weak and uncoordinated. Carolyn continued to fight a losing battle against the effects of the drug and the man behind her as she was pushed towards a large white truck.

Wilks waited until he felt his captive go limp before he risked removing the handkerchief from her face. He'd seen her in Tea Kwon Do, and knew she was one of the better students in the class; besides he already had several bruises from underestimating one person in the last twenty-four hours, he really didn't need anymore.

He bound Carolyn's hands in front of her and gently laid her on the floor of the back seat; the marine then made sure that she was completely covered by a blanket that matched the interior of his truck. He knew the guards on duty well enough that they would not bother to look at anything too closely.

"Leaving so soon, Sgt?"

Wilks smiled innocently at the younger man, who also happened to be a Sgt. "Yeah, I just needed to pick something up this morning. I'll be back for my shift at 1800 hours, see you then."

A few hundred yards down the road, Wilks pulled over and gently drew the blanket back from Carolyn's face. With an amazing amount of tenderness, he brushed a stray lock of hair back behind her ear; "shh honey, you're with me now. We'll show him who you really love."

**STARGATE: SG-1**

General Hank Landry stormed through the halls of the SGC, trying his absolute hardest not to growl out loud at the personnel who got in his way. This was _so _not his week. First his 2IC had been attacked on base, then he'd been abducted, then the General had to send his best team off-world to negotiate instead of having them running the investigation, and now his daughter/CMO had disobeyed a direct order. Ok, so that last part he'd been dealing with for nearly thirty-five years, but that didn't make it any less aggravating.

He stormed through the infirmary and into her office, already mentally preparing his lecture, but he stopped in his tracks when he found the office empty. Spinning on his heel, Landry confronted the first nurse he saw, "Where's Dr Lam?"

"She headed for the surface nearly forty-five minutes ago, sir."

The General shook his head, "I just spoke to the personnel at the gate, she hasn't left yet."

"That's very unusual sir," the nurse gave him a worried frown, "she had her Tae Kwon Do equipment with her and she headed for the surface elevator. She looked like she was in a pretty big rush to get out of here."

The small nagging voice that had been in the back of Landry's head since he'd entered the infirmary grew to a shout at that point. He picked up the nearest phone and had Walter page his missing daughter, he then tried calling her cell phone. He received no response from either mode of communication.

After sending nurses to check her quarters and the base gym, Landry hopped in the elevator to determine if her car was still in the parking garage. He didn't even make it out of the elevator before he spotted her cell phone on the ground, flashing 'one missed call'.

Hundreds of light years away, Sam excused herself from the negotiating table as her radio beeped with an incoming message from the SGC.

Daniel tried to force down the rush of adrenaline through his veins. The General knew how important these negotiations were, he wouldn't have interrupted them unless it was something big. He glanced over at Teal'c; anyone who didn't know the big Jaffa would think nothing of it, but he could easily read the change in the other man's posture.

"I'm afraid we must return to our planet, High Chancellor, we will contact you when we are able to return to the negotiations."

The older man had seen their distraction and worry throughout the proceedings, "Have you located Col Mitchell then?"

Sam bit her lip, "No sir, but our Chief Medical Officer is now missing as well."


	8. Chapter 8

**Sorry, another fairly short one, but work has to come first for the next few weeks. Just a heads up, tempers flair and so does the language in this chapter.**

Cameron's head jerked up in surprise when he heard the heavy thump of a diesel pull into the yard; he hadn't expected Wilks back nearly this soon. He awkwardly picked up the chair and moved to stand next to the front door of the cabin. This was probably one of the stupidest ideas he'd ever had- which was really saying something in some peoples' opinions- but his Type A personality wasn't about to let him sit around and wait for the rescue he knew would be coming.

It seemed to take forever for Wilks to enter the house and Cam was more than ready when the thick wooden door finally crashed open. He took a large back swing to gain momentum, sizing it up so that the top corner of the chair would land in a place to do the most damage, but he froze several feet before hitting Wilks when he saw what, or rather _who_ the big marine was carrying.

"Oh God, Carolyn."

Wilks ignored his tortured whisper and gently laid Carolyn on the old, but comfy looking couch.

Cam's mind raced as he watched the scene play out before him. He could think of only one reason Wilks would have brought Carolyn into this sick little game of his; he was going to hurt her to get at Mitchell. He pulled relentlessly on the plastic, feeling the stiff material bite into his wrists, "Sgt, this is between you and me, leave Carolyn out of this, it has nothing to do with her." Cameron forced himself to keep his voice as level as possible; maybe if he stayed calm, Wilks would too.

"She has everything to do with this Col."

Cameron's frustration and anger at the situation turned to pure, unadulterated rage as Wilks ran his hand through Carolyn's silky black hair. "Get your fucking hands off her you sick son of a bitch!"

Wilks turned a malicious smile in his direction, "She is not yours to protect Col, she belongs to me."

Knowing he was rushing into a fight he most likely wouldn't win, Mitchell charged Wilks anyway, anything to get him away from Carolyn.

The Sgt was knocked to the floor by the unexpected attack. Cursing himself for underestimating the Col yet again, he turned and parried several of Mitchell's off-balance kicks before delivering a series of strikes to Cam's face and body.

Cameron landed one more kick before he lost the fight to keep his balance; darkness enveloped him when his head bounced off the rough wood planks of the floor.

Wilks took up his previous position by Carolyn's side and resumed stroking her hair. He knew it would be several hours before she awakened, so he took a few minutes to show his love without fear of recrimination. He placed a tender kiss on her forehead, then assured himself that the padding between the zip-tie and her wrists was sufficient to prevent her any pain. The marine moved down the hall to retrieve the long-chained handcuffs that currently resided in the bedroom; he attached one side to the leg of the couch before padding the other end and clicking it around Lam's slim ankle.

He pulled another dining room table chair into the living room and simply watched Carolyn sleep until the alarm on his watch began beeping. Wilks grabbed his duffle bag and headed out the door without sparing a glace at the prone figure sprawled on his living room floor.

**STARGATE: SG-1**

All three of them paced their respective corners of the room as they waited for Landry and Reynolds to join them. They'd come through the gate minutes before and made their way to the briefing room without bothering to de-vest of their weapons and packs. None had said a word since they'd left the council chambers.

Finally Sam couldn't contain it anymore, "how the hell did this happen? I mean, shit, the base is supposed to be one of the most secure places in the country!"

"Sam," Daniel gave a half-hearted attempt at calming her down, but the truth of it was that he wasn't all that calm himself.

Their heads jerked up in unison as their awaited company finally arrived; Landry seemed to have aged ten years since they'd seen him that morning, and Reynolds wasn't fairing much better. The marine Col knew a lot of people were counting on him to get this resolved quickly, not the least of whom were Col Mitchell and Dr Lam.

"Anything?"

The General didn't even acknowledge that he'd heard the question as he slumped into his chair at the head of the table; Landry had been concerned enough when it was just Cameron missing, but now that his daughter was gone as well, he was finding it extremely difficult to maintain a professional demeanor.

When he realized the General wasn't going to respond to Daniel's question, Reynolds shook his head. "It was a shift change so thirty-three cars were allowed off base before we discovered that Dr. Lam had been abductedeleven of those correspond with personnel who let around the time Col Mitchell was abducted; but no one saw anything, and once again the security cameras were no help."

"What, does this son of a bitch know the location of every single security camera on the fucking base?"

Sam and Teal'c nearly gave themselves whiplash snapping their heads around to stare at Jackson; being fluent in twenty-three languages, Daniel rarely resorted to cursing- at least not in English. "DanielJackson?"

"Sorry," Jackson murmured without really looking up.

Teal'c nodded, understanding his friend's distress. "What is our next course of action?"

"We keep looking. I've ordered that those personnel be recalled ASAP for questioning and a search of their vehicles. Right now we're going with the assumption that the two incidents are related, and Carolyn's trail is warmer."

Walter rushed in with an emergency before the conversation could continue any further; apparently the universe didn't stop just because the 2IC and CMO of the SGC were missing. Landry stared at the message in his hand, knowing that he had to take care of it. He growled out his frustration, "I don't care how many laws or regulations you have to break, just find them- quickly!"

**STARGATE: SG-1**

The last thing Carolyn expected to smell when she woke was mothballs and wood smoke; the second to last thing she expected was to open her eyes to a dark Navajo print straight out of the seventies. The combination of those two factors had her eyes open wide and her fog-filled brain clear extremely quickly. The fact that her hands were tied completely escaped her notice until she bolted upright and had to grab the couch for support. It didn't take long for the events of the day to come back and her first thought was for Cameron.

A quiet groan drew her attention to the floor several feet off the end of the couch, "Cameron!"

Another broken groan answered her exclamation; pale blue eyes, clouded over with pain, opened in her direction. They seemed to focus on her pleading grey ones for the briefest second before sliding closed again.

Lam leapt off the couch only to be painfully pulled back by the handcuff encircling her ankle; she gave a couple ineffectual tugs on the hardware before turning her attention back to her injured friend. "Cameron, Cam, I need you to wake up again; open those baby blues for me now." Carolyn tried to maintain a stern and level tone; after his third concussion, she'd learned that he responded much better to orders than to pleading.

But this time he remained stubbornly still and silent.

Carolyn stroked his knee, the only part of him that she could reach. "Please Cameron, I need you."


	9. Chapter 9

Lam had no idea how long she sat there just watching Cameron breath before she realized that her sulking was doing them absolutely no good. Sure, she was thrilled to know that he was alive, but that relief wouldn't get them out of this situation, and her getting off her butt and doing something just might. It wasn't like she could go that far; her movements were restricted to a fairly small range around the corner of the couch.

It had been dark when she'd woken for the first time, but the moonlight now spilling through the windows indicated that it was well into the early hours of the morning. It wasn't much to see by, but between that and the light from the small lamp in the other side of the room, she would have to make it work.

She turned her attention to the handcuffs that anchored her to the couch; the design of the couch leg prevented her from sliding the cuff down to the floor, lifting the couch and freeing herself. Carolyn grasped the metallic bracelet and tried to force it down over the wood outcropping several times to no avail. Realizing she was getting nowhere, Lam turned her attention to other areas of the living room.

That's when she noticed the food, a pile of power bars and water bottles at the far end of the couch. She hadn't realized how hungry she was until food was entered into the equation. She couldn't help Cameron at all if she suffered a hypoglycemic reaction before he even woke up, so she grabbed the top bar and dug in. Carolyn stared at Cameron as she ate, trying to catalog his visible injuries. The concussion was a no-brainer, especially considering the blood and bruising at his temple and of course, there was the fact that he was currently unconscious.

Cameron immediately made a liar out of her as he shifted within the confines of the chair.

Carolyn dropped the power bar and scooted as close to him as she could, "Cameron, you with me?"

"Nope," he moaned, "going back to sleep."

Lam squeezed his knee, her grip on the verge of painful, "no, you're not. Now scoot your butt over here and let me get a good look at you." She couldn't hold back a slight smile as her order was obeyed almost immediately.

Cam bit back a moan as his stiff and bruised body protested the movement. Eventually he was able to move himself close enough that Carolyn helped him right the chair; Cam squeezed his eyes closed as the room tilted crazily. Sucking in a shallow breath, he willed himself not to throw up. "Are you ok?"

"I should be the one asking you that," Carolyn gave him a stern look.

Cameron ignored her, and continued to examine her exhausted face. "He didn't hurt you, did he?'

"I don't even know who _he _is; do you?"

"His name is Wilks, he was transferred to SG-19 a couple weeks ago."

Recognition dawned on Lam's face, "he asked me out when I did his initial physical, why would he… Oh God, you're here because of me, aren't you?" The more Carolyn thought about it, the more she realized that was the case. Every time something had happened to him, it was just before or right after they were together; he'd been on his way to pick her up when he'd been locked in his room, he'd spent the night at her house just before he was pushed down the stairs, and finally, he'd been abducted on his way to movie night.

Wilks had been trying to keep them apart; apparently he saw Cameron as his competition.

But that didn't explain why Wilks had brought both of them here. Unless… unless Wilks planned on using Cam as his leverage to get her. The alarm set in as she began to realize just how dangerous their situation was. Carolyn wasn't given to panic attacks, in fact she'd never had one, but she knew all the symptoms, and she was definitely having one now.

Cam couldn't believe it; he'd seen Carolyn handle countless emergencies and life threatening situations in the infirmary, but apparently the thought of someone being hurt on her behalf was enough to send her over the edge. "Hey, come on, breathe, it's going to be okay." Mitchell frowned heavily when Lam's eyes glassed over slightly and her respiratory rate continued to increase. "Carolyn… Carolyn Mae Lam, look at me." Cam sighed with relief when that seemed to do the trick, "I'm here because Wilks is a sadistic son of a bitch; _none_ of this is your fault."

Carolyn nodded but was unable to keep the tear from escaping her eyes as her imagination ran wild with various outcomes of the situation. She could only hope that her father and the team would find them before Wilks could hurt Cameron anymore.

Seeing that she wasn't calming down as much as he'd hoped, Cam dropped his head and scooted the chair closer the couch, "Come here." He shifted slightly as Carolyn settled on his lap; he nudged his head beneath her bound hands so that they slid down around his neck. "Shhh, baby, everything is going to be fine."

He would have given anything to be able to wrap his arms around her at that point; but he had to settle for resting his cheek on the top of her head. Mitchell could feel her tears quickly soaking through the thin material of his t-shirt.

Before last night, Carolyn couldn't remember the last time she'd cried, and now she'd done it twice in less than twenty-four hours. Not that she didn't have good reasons for it, but she knew this wasn't the time to lose it; they had to focus on getting out of here. Lam pulled back slightly, sniffing back any further tears, "Did you just call me 'baby'?"

Cameron ducked his head and blushed a deep scarlet, "um yeah, sorry. I guess 'Carolyn' just didn't seem to fit the situation. I, ah- please don't tell you dad."

Carolyn couldn't believe how much better a little joke could make her feel; that and the fact that Cameron looked _absolutely_ adorable when he was that bashful. Looking into his eyes, she was amazed to see such a myriad of emotions playing there; there was his usual stubborn and protective streak, but there was also a deep affection shining through the pain.

Before her mind could fully process what she was doing, Carolyn leaned in and pressed her lips to his soft, pouty ones.

Cam couldn't have been more surprised by the kiss, but he quickly found himself relaxing into it even as his mind raced faster than a 302 breaking atmosphere. He knew this wasn't her- as much as he wanted it to be, it was the stress of their situation. Cameron knew that being the gentleman that he was, he should stop this now, but he'd been dreaming about tasting her lips since he'd spent the night at her house. Cam finally managed to get his body to pay attention to the signals his brain was sending and pulled back from the kiss. "Carolyn, I- ah screw being the good guy," he dove back toward her lips.

Both were so lost in the kiss that they were completely oblivious to the cabin door swinging open; they only looked up when an enraged bellow issued from the man standing there.

**STARGATE: SG-1**

Sam couldn't seem to get Daniel's comment out of her head; could Cam and Carolyn's kidnapper really know the location to every security camera on the base? Or was it just a coincidence?

Carter had stopped believing in coincidences a long time ago.

She tossed back the covers and grabbed her recently shed BDUs from the floor, wondering how she had even thought about trying to sleep. The halls of the base were rarely empty, but they were definitely quieter than usual at 0200; she reached the surveillance office without running into more than five people. The small office housed not only the monitors displaying feed from every camera on the base, but also a list of all personnel that had even the slightest contact with the cameras

Sam couldn't believe she hadn't thought of this before. Cross-referencing that list with their list of vehicles and suspects turned out only one name.

On the other side of the base, Teal'c wrapped a towel around his waist as he emerged from the shower. The workout had felt good, but it hadn't taken his mind from the situation at hand. The General had told them to get some rest, that they weren't any good to him exhausted, that Reynolds's team could handle the investigation for a couple hours. Teal'c knew that there was no way the General was taking his own advice and therefore he didn't intend to either.

Moving down the line of lockers towards his own, the edge of a photo sticking out of one of the lockers caught his eye. Teal'c was about to be the nice guys and shove the photo back into the locker, not wanting anyone to lose something that was obviously special to them, but stopped when he recognized Carolyn's white lab coat.

Teal'c pulled the photo the rest of the way from the locker and stared at it in growing anger. The picture was indeed of Dr. Lam, the petite woman was standing in the middle of her bustling infirmary issuing orders. This is not a picture one would have of a _friend_.

Teal'c eyed the combination lock, before grabbing the handle and ripping the entire door off. If he was wrong he would apologize to the man later.

He was not wrong.

The inside of the locker was plastered with pictures of Carolyn, sitting at her desk, eating in the mess, working out in the gym, passed out on one of the infirmary beds, talking to Col Mitchell… That was the one that caught Teal'c's notice; the large black 'X' over Cameron's face was extremely telling.


	10. Chapter 10

**Sorry, I'm being evil again, but I wanted to get something up before I left for the weekend. Enjoy.**

Reynolds downed half the cup of coffee in three gulps, not paying any attention as the steaming liquid scalded his throat on the way down; he'd now been going for nearly forty-eight hours straight. Coffee was the only thing keeping him awake, finding Col Mitchell and Dr. Lam was the only thing keeping him going.

The exhausted Col forced his eyes back to the screen as the images flashed by rapidly. His vision was just starting to blur again when something caught his attention, "wait, go back."

The young Sgt did as ordered flipping the image back to that of an older, silver Ford truck stopped at the gate; he stared at the picture for nearly a full minute before swiveling to another monitor and bringing up another image of the same truck. "Take a look at this, sir."

Reynolds tore his eyes from the faint navy blue smudges on the front bumper of the truck to look where the Sgt was pointing. The date on the image was that of the previous day, and the bumper was spotless. "Who owns this truck, and why the hell wasn't he on our list?"

"Ah, he left well before Col Mitchell and Dr Jackson did. But sir, isn't Dr. Jackson's…"

Reynolds nodded. "Yes, Dr. Jackson's Forrester is navy blue, and yes it's missing paint along the back tailgate. This is our guy."

Twenty-four floors down, Daniel bolted up-right in bed. He quickly grabbed his head as the headache he'd had for the last twenty-four hours returned with a vengeance, but that didn't diminish the memory of his dream. He'd been recalling more and more of the moments after his accident throughout the day, but he had yet to get a clear picture of their assailant's face, until tonight.

Daniel still had no idea who the man was, but he definitely remembered seeing him around the base recently. He dressed as quickly as he could, managing to only trip over his pants once.

Jackson had no doubt that the General would still be in his office coordinating the investigation, even at this late hour. He literally ran into Sam as he rounded the last corner; the funny thing was that Teal'c and Reynolds were only three steps behind them. "Sgt Wilks?" Nods of ascension were seen all around as the four barged into Landry's office.

"We know who it is, sir," Carter stated the second the General acknowledged their presence. "Sgt Ethan Wilks was assigned to SG-19 a couple of weeks ago; before his medical clearance came through he was assigned to surveillance camera maintenance."

The General sighed with relief, scarcely hoping to believe that they'd finally gotten the break they needed. "Get his address, and let's get over there."

"Already have it, sir."

Daniel watched as Teal'c leaned slightly to see over the Col's shoulder, the creases in his forehead became deeper the longer he stared at the paper. "What's wrong Teal'c?"

"This address is a large apartment complex, I do not believe that Sgt Wilks would risk taking Col Mitchell and Dr Lam to such a public domicile."

**STARGATE: SG-1**

Carolyn's arms tightened reflexively around Cameron's neck as she stared down the barrel of the nine millimeter Wilks held in a shaky hand. "Carolyn, stand up."

Before she could obey, Cam shook his head gently against hers and subtly shifted so that as much of his body was between her and Wilks as possible. "Sgt, this is a no win situation for you. You know my team is going to find us soon; we'll go easy on you if you just turn yourself in now." The speech sounded even more cliché coming out of his mouth than it had in his head, but he had to say something.

"Carolyn, I said stand up." Wilks didn't give any indication that he'd heard Cam's statement; he simply seemed irritated that Lam hadn't obeyed him the first time. When she didn't move immediately he pointedly flipped the safety to the off position and aimed the gun at Mitchell's head.

Carolyn scrambled off his lap was quickly as she could with injuring either of them. Growing up in a military household, Lam was used to being around guns, but that didn't mean she was in any way comfortable with them. Especially when they were pointed at someone she cared about.

Cameron tried again, "Sgt, don't do this."

Wilks replied without taking his eyes off Carolyn, "I have to, Col. You forced me into this the minute you stole her from me."

"He didn't steal-"

"_YES HE DID!_" Wilks's carefully controlled calm disappeared as a savage kick sent Mitchell and the chair hurtling into the cabin wall.

Realizing this might be her only chance, Carolyn used the marine's momentary distraction to land a stunning roundhouse to the side of his head with her unchained leg. Even being made of pure muscle, her small stature decreased the force of her blows; but Carolyn had a level of speed and agility that made her the envy of all her class mates and she was able to land several more blows before Wilks could recover from the first. She drove him to his knees with a series of double fisted jabs from her bound hands; she took every possible opportunity to land a strike.

Carolyn expected Wilks to rally at some point, but she was still unprepared for the vicious backhand that sent her flying into the side of the couch.

Cam watched it all from ten feet away. He mentally cheered Carolyn on, even as he struggled violently against the zip ties that still bound his wrists. His hands had quickly become slick with blood and he could feel the plastic starting to slip.

The ties snapped a fraction of a second after Wilks's hand connected with Lam's face. Mitchell rushed at Wilks for what seemed like the tenth time that day.

He was so intent on protecting Carolyn, the discharge of the handgun didn't even register.

They hit the floor hard, the Sgt's body cushioning Cam from the majority of the impact; Cameron driving the marine's head into the solid wood planks several times. Wilks apparently gathered enough coherent though and strength to flip them both, rolling towards the kitchen. Cam continued to fight valiantly and finally managed to pin Wilks beneath him again. He lifted the marine's head and slammed a finally fist into the man's jaw, allowing his skull to thunk back to the floor.

He sat up breathing heavily before turning back toward Carolyn; "Baby, you ok?"

Lam nodded; in truth she knew that she was going to have some pretty spectacular bruises, but it was nothing compared to what Cameron was most likely feeling. Her eyes widened in fear when he turned toward her and she got a view of the large blood stain spreading across his t-shirt; the dark red contrasting sharply with the pale blue.

Carolyn watched as Cameron managed three halting steps towards her before collapsing.

**STARGATE: SG-1**

The neighbor's mouths dropped in disbelief as the three large black suburbans pulled up to the curb, spilling teams of black clad men and women.

Sam, Daniel and Teal'c rushed up the stairs with Reynolds hot on their heels; they stopped in front of 7G each hoping that their friends were alive and well inside. Carter waited for confirmation that all the teams were in place before moving aside to allow Teal'c access to the door. The man was better then a battering ram when he was angry.

A dozen soldiers burst into the sparely furnished one bedroom apartment; it took less than ten seconds to clear both rooms. There was no indication that Cameron and Carolyn had ever been there, and they certainly weren't there now.


	11. Chapter 11

**Hey everyone, last cliffhanger, I promise... I think.**

"I don't give a flying fuck what you're using them for right now Lt; get me a chopper NOW." Landry pinched the bridge of his nose, trying valiantly to maintain what little self-control he still had while he listened to the paper pushing Lt on the other end of the line. He saw Walter tentatively poke his head around the door frame and waved him in. "Lt, my 2IC and CMO are missing; if there isn't a chopper on my helipad in ten minutes, I will find the deepest, darkest hole in Antarctica and bury you there for the rest of your career."

Walter winced at the loud crash as Landry slammed the phone down and looked at him expectantly. "I think I may have found them sir; about four days ago, Sgt Wilks rented a cabin up at the National Forest line about an hour from here. He was intelligent enough to pay cash, so it took a little digging, but they still had a hold on his credit card."

"Good work Walter. Get Col Carter on the phone and get my gear from the armory; I'm going with them."

Downtown, Daniel watched as Sam flipped open her cell phone to answer a call from the General. He'd scarcely allowed himself to hope that they would find Mitchell and Carolyn here, Wilks had been so smart about everything else he probably wasn't dumb enough to bring them to a populated area. His eyes moved to Teal'c as the man stalked out of the apartment and cornered one of Wilks's neighbors; the poor man having been woken by the commotion long before his alarm clock was set to go off. The conversation was a short one and Teal'c returned quickly. "Anything useful," Jackson asked knowing that there probably wouldn't be.

"Sgt Wilks has not been seen in nearly a week; he has obviously rented another location at which to keep Col Mitchell and Dr Lam."

Carter jogged over to them, "we've got a new location. Wilks rented a cabin about an hour north of the base. Reynolds and the other teams will leave now in the suburbans, we're meeting the General on the roof in ten." They looked at each other in silence for several long seconds, "they've got to be there."

Daniel knew Sam was worried, hell they all were, but she was also in obvious soldier mode. He'd only seen her this focused a handful of times that she wasn't looking at a piece of alien technology. He tired to reassure her despite his own doubts, "we'll find them Sam; besides you know neither of them will allow the other to be hurt."

"That's exactly what I'm afraid of."

**STARGATE: SG-1**

Carolyn worked frantically, ripping the padding from the zip tie around her wrists and the handcuff around her ankle; two very painful minutes later her hands were free but the cuff remained firmly around her ankle. She took a brief second from her work to visually check on Cameron and Wilks; both had yet to move. The growing blood stain beneath Cameron was scaring her more than she wanted to admit, even to herself; why couldn't he have fallen within her reach? From what she'd seen just before he'd collapsed, the wound looked to be in his flank, just above the hip; not lethal in and of itself, but with the bleeding going unchecked… The fact that there was no exit wound was both a blessing and a curse: with the exit wound he would be losing twice as much blood, but without it, there was a much greater risk of infection, especially the longer it went untreated.

The longer Cameron remained unmoving, the more Carolyn worried. She knew it was the compounded head traumas keeping him down more so than the gun shot wound itself, but that didn't change the fact that he had yet to stir. His body had been placed under an enormous amount of stress the last few days and she couldn't help but wonder how much more it would take for it to give into his weakened state.

Carolyn turned back and slammed her foot into the leg of the couch again; she wasn't sure if it was just wishful thinking, but the wood seemed to be moving more and more under her blows. Her muscles had long since started burning when she heard a distinct crack issue from beneath her foot; one more kick and the couch leg collapsed inward.

Her first instinct was to run to Cameron and stop the bleeding, but she knew that wasn't her best course of action; she needed to do something to control their situation first. Her eyes searched the small living room for the nine millimeter that had been knocked from the Sgt's hand when Cameron tackled him. Carolyn spotted the butt of it peeking from beneath a comfortable looking arm chair in the corner of the room. After fishing the gun out of its hiding place she made her way to the bathroom, praying that Wilks wasn't a typical bachelor and that she would find a stack of clean towels there.

The three clean, white, fluffy towels didn't answer her question about the marine's level of bachelorhood, but it did tell her that the cabin had a fairly competent maid service.

Lam quickly made her way back to Cameron's side; she would have liked to find something to bind Wilks's hand with, just as an added precaution, but the man was lying atop both his arms, and chances were that any movement would wake him easily. Gently rolling the object of her affection over on to his back, she realized her earlier assessment had been correct; the bullet had most likely not hit anything vital, but Cameron had lost a lot of blood. And he was still losing it; new trails of blood had also carved paths down from his temple and nose.

In the early morning light, Mitchell struggled weakly as Carolyn pressed one of the towels to the gaping wound in his side, but he showed no signs of actually waking up. She fashioned the most effective pressure bandage as was possible with two towels and his good leather belt; he was going to be pissed about the belt, it was his absolute favorite. Cameron was deathly still again by the time she finished.

Lam used the remaining towel to clean up his face as much as possible; it would decrease the team's shock when they came to get them, and plus it just made her feel better when he wasn't covered in blood. She would have traded just about anything to have her medical kit there; the pink, puffy tissue around his head wound was a classic indication that an infection had already taken hold there and the gun shot wound was likely to follow before they got him home.

Carolyn kept as silent as possible through out her ministrations, fearing that any noise would wake Wilks.

It was then that the thought of a phone popped into her head. She knew that both her and Cameron's phones had been lost at the site of their abduction, but there had to be one in the cabin somewhere. Wilks was military; they were never without their cell phones. Of course, Carolyn wanted to avoid going near him if at all possible.

She hated to leave Cameron's side, but at the moment, finding a phone would help him more than her hovering would. Carolyn quickly searched the kitchen and living room; she was halfway through the bedroom, when she heard a moaned curse issue from the living room. The thick southern drawl that colored the voice had her nearly delirious with relief; she raced back to keep him from moving, the last thing they needed was for him to start bleeding again.

"Cameron," she whispered urgently as she dropped to her knees at his side, "stay still, I don't need you messing up all my hard work." Carolyn felt another frission of concern rush through her when he blinked owlishly at her. "I know this is a stupid question, but how are you feeling?"

He gave her that brief, lopsided smirk that she loved so much. "Like shit," he murmured quietly after a minute. "Wilks?"

"Still out cold."

"Ok, then we need to get out of here."

Carolyn looked at him like he was touched in the head, as he may well be after all those head injuries. "You're in no condition to be moving around right now." The emotion in his eyes had her retracting her statement almost instantly; they vividly conveyed the direness of their situation and all his fears of what might happen to her. "Right, just let me tighten this first then."

Cam couldn't help the flinch or the hiss of pain as Lam pulled the belt another notch tighter. He hadn't embellished when he told her he felt like shit; his side was on fire, his knee and his head throbbed in time with his heart beat, and he was currently seeing three of Carolyn in what small amount of his visual field that wasn't completely grayed out. Mitchell knew that he was dangerously close to passing out, but all he had to do was make it to the truck; he wouldn't even have to stay awake long enough to hot wire the damn thing as Wilks had been nice enough to drop the keys when he'd walked in.

With some quiet swearing and a lot of help from Carolyn, Cameron made it to his hands and knees. His head hung toward the floor as his breath came out in harsh pants; when he finally did look up, it was to see Wilks staring at him with pure, unadulterated hate.

He and Carolyn stared the Sgt down in silence, none of them daring to move.

"_Fuck!_"

The spell broke; all three of them lunged for the gun simultaneously. Cameron came up well short; his body absolutely refusing to move the way it usually did. Carolyn reached the gun a split second before Wilks, his hand covering hers on the handle of the gun. She pulled the gun toward her and kicked out as hard as she could, hoping to connect with some part of his anatomy. Unfortunately, Wilks was no longer underestimating his captives; he used Lam's momentum against her, pushing her backwards into Cam and ripping the handgun from her grasp.

Mitchell caught Carolyn as she flew backwards, smothering a grunt as her elbow found his broken ribs; black spots danced across his vision. They both watched the marine climb to his feet and swing the barrel of the gun in their direction.

"You shouldn't have done that Carolyn."

Birds scattered from the trees as gunfire once again shattered the silence of the forest.


	12. Chapter 12

**Due to some recent threats of bodily harm (just kidding), I've decided not to keep you waiting another whole week. So this one is very short, but as promised, no cliff hanger. A real epilogue is coming, but it's going to be awhile.**

Cameron's eyes darted from Wilks's bleeding arm, now devoid of the gun, to his team standing in the open doorway. Now that they were here, he felt the weight of responsibility for he and Carolyn's safety lifted off his shoulders; he slumped back to the floor, the previous rush of adrenaline having drained him of any remaining energy.

Carolyn panicked as she felt his warmth leave her back; she turned in time to keep Cameron's head from hitting the floor again. Frankly she was surprised he'd stayed conscious as long as he had; hell, between the blood loss and the head injuries, she was amazed he'd come to at all. Carolyn ignored Wilks, leaving the team to handle him, as she immediately placed both hands over the now red towels on Cameron's side and applied pressure; he didn't even flinch.

A minute later, Lam felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up into the distraught eyes of her father. Carolyn didn't even need him to voice the question before she stood and fell into his hug; "I'm ok dad."

Landry searched her eyes for any hidden lies for a moment before he was finally satisfied that she was truly unhurt. He buried his face in her hair realizing that it'd been nearly twenty years since he'd held her like this, and he wasn't about to let go.

"Carolyn!"

Lam looked up to see the marine struggling against Daniel and Teal'c despite his injuries.

"Carolyn, tell them you want to be with me, you belong to me."

The petite doctor slowly extracted her self from the General's embrace. She nodded to Jackson and Teal'c who reluctantly let go of the Sgt; Carolyn stared at the man for a long second before she delivered a solid right cross to his jaw. Just because she knew how to defend herself, didn't mean that Carolyn liked resorting to violence, but this was the man that had hurt Cameron and that was all she needed to know.

Teal'c didn't bother to hide his chuckle as they handed a stunned Wilks off to the newly arrived medics and he joined Sam hovering over Mitchell's still form.

Carolyn also dropped back to her knees at Cam's side, "we have to get him back to the SGC; the bullet's still in there and I need to find out how much other damage that son of a bitch did."

The General looked at his CMO in surprise, not used to hearing her talk like that, before he moved off to coordinate the Col's return to the SGC in the chopper. Now that he knew she was safe, Landry couldn't have been more proud of Carolyn; she'd apparently kept her head in a very scary situation. He hadn't missed her concerned glances at Mitchell either and he knew that there was more to them than Carolyn just being the consummate professional. He'd hoped she'd never fall in love with a military man, but in all honesty he couldn't think of anyone better for her than Mitchell.

The team helped gently roll Cam onto the field stretcher, but stayed behind as he was carried to the helicopter; there was no way they would all fit inside with the bird being as small as it was.

Carolyn moved to follow Cameron's stretcher, but she could feel the team's questioning gaze burning into her back. She turned and gave them what she hoped was a confident smile, "he's going to be fine guys, knowing him he'll be back on the duty roster in less than a month."


	13. Chapter 13

Mitchell began fussing slightly just as Carolyn finished pulling the blanket up over Cameron's bare chest; she lay a hand on his forehead, finding a slight fever there. The surgery had gone fine, Carolyn had insisted on performing it herself; she knew everyone was worried about her, and although her staff was more than competent, she needed to take care of this one herself.

"Did you get checked out?"

Lam whirled to see her father standing in the doorway, looking on her with a concerned smile. "Yeah, just a couple bruises, nothing broken." She saw the worry linger in his eyes and knew had hadn't been asking about only her physical health. "I'm relieved that it's all over; I know things could have turned out a lot worse, but they didn't. I won't let this affect me, except maybe how I turn down a date in the future." She gave her father a small grin.

Landry tentatively put an arm around her shoulders and was relieved when she didn't shrug it off; he'd figured that she'd only allowed the hug back in the cabin because she'd been running on pure adrenaline at that point. "That's good to hear Carolyn, and how about Col Mitchell? When can I expect him to come knocking on my door with a little box?" The General, along with just about everyone else on base, would have to have been blind not to notice what was going on between the pilot and his daughter.

Everyone except Carolyn and Cameron, that is.

Lam looked at her father in confusion. "Well, he should be out of here in about a week," she answered slowly.

Landry didn't dare tell her what he'd actually meant; Carolyn was just stubborn enough that if he even hinted at Mitchell as a son-in-law, she would never speak to the man again. "Right, I'll leave you to it then; I'm sure the rest of the team will be here in short order."

Carolyn turned back to the man in the bed as he mumbled incoherently again; it'd been eight hours since the surgery, so it was bout time for him to wake up. "Good morning, sunshine," Carolyn knew it was a sure way to bring him around. She smiled as those blue eyes met hers, "Welcome back. How are you feeling?"

Cameron gave her a sardonic look, "never better." They lapsed into silence as Lam ran through a quick exam now that he was awake and coherent; Cameron could help it when her close proximity brought back memories of their kiss. He hadn't had much time to think about it since it'd happened, and now he couldn't get it out of his head. He kept coming back to the feeling that it had been nothing more than the stress of the situation for her, and he knew the issue had to be addressed.

"So, about how Wilks found us last night…" Apparently Carolyn was a mind reader as well as a phenomenal doctor.

Cam looked up at her through his thick lashes, "look Carolyn, I know nothing can come of that. I- I understand that you were under a lot of stress, and I was just offering comfort."

Lam considered herself the consummate professional, but Cameron looked so far beyond adorable and earnest that all her training and decorum went straight out the window. She grabbed the collar of his scrub shirt, ever mindful of what he'd been through in the last few days, and planted a passionate kiss on his stunned lips. She deepened the kiss as his lips parted slightly and a hand came up to cup the back of her neck; she'd been dreaming about this moment for weeks and she wasn't about to rush it.

"Well, it's about damn time."

Cameron and Carolyn reluctantly pulled away from each other and turned to the team standing in the doorway.

Sam was grinning like an idiot, "I win the pool!"

"I believe that you will have to split the proceeds with Sgt Harriman and Sgt Siler as they also placed a wager on this particular week."

Mitchell sputtered indignation, "you guys have been betting on us?!"

Carolyn couldn't resist the urge to kiss away his cute pout; if she got this urge every time he looked adorable she would never get anything done. "Is that what you really want to focus on right now?"

Cameron glanced up at her and made an instant decision, "thanks for the rescue guys, I'm fine, and visiting hours are now over." He wrapped an arm around Carolyn's shoulders and disappeared into another kiss without further comment.

"I guess that's our cue to leave," Jackson grinned at Carter and Teal'c as they watched the new couple for a minute before heading toward the mess hall.

**Yeah, I love it when a story finally comes together. Thanks so much for your patience and reviews.**


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